Liveblog: Primary Election Results

Throughout the night, Texas Tribune reporters will update you on the results of key primary battles statewide, from the first early voting totals through the last ballots counted. We'll also be updating our election scoreboard as results roll in.

In very, very early returns Mitt Romney is leading the race at well over 60 percent. Ron Paul in second place right now. There are nine choices, including "uncommitted," and a lot of candidates who didn't withdraw their names.

In the Republican race for U.S. Senate, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is leading in Tarrant, Dallas and Travis Counties but is far below the 50 percent threshold he needs to pass to avoid a runoff. His best showing is in Travis County is 45 percent. , In Dallas and Travis Counties, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert came in second followed by former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz. In Tarrant County, Cruz comes in 1 percentage point higher than Leppert.

The early voting from Bexar County has incumbent state Sen. Jeff Wentworth slightly ahead in a close race with former railroad commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones for Senat District 25. Donna Campbell trails them both.

Latest Railroad Commission: With nearly 170,000 early votes counted, Craddick leads with 34%, Chisum is second at 28%. In the second RRC Republican race, Smitherman leads Parker, 40% to 30% with 162,000 votes counted)

There may be a tight race to make a runoff in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate, according to early vote results from some of the state's largest counties. Former state Rep. Paul Sadler is leading the four candidates in Tarrant and Travis Counties. In Dallas County, Addie Allen, a disaster assistance worker for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has the most support so far. Sean Hubbard, a former sales and billing clerk for a door company, had been widely expected to make a runoff with Sadler but appears to be running in third or fourth place in some counties, based on the posted early vote results.

In the "no surprise" department, Nick Lampson is crushing his opponent for Democratic nomination in CD 14. That's the seat Ron Paul is vacating. Leans heavily R but Lampson thinks he'll have a shot in November.

Another 100,000 or so votes have come in for Railroad Commission — and now Craddick's at 36%, Chisum at 27%. Interestingly, Berger (13%) is ahead of Sledge (9%). In the other RRC race, Smitherman's at 43%, Parker at 24%, with Murray-Kolb at 22%.

In the Republican primary to replace state Sen. Craig Harris, R-Arlington, state Rep. Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills drew at least 60 percent of the early vote in both Tarrant and Dallas Counties. Not looking good for state Rep. Todd Smith of Euless.

Sen. Mike Jackson trailing in early returns in CD 36. Hard to know what returns are coming in, but he was widely expected -- even by his opponents -- to get into a runoff. Former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman looking like a strong contender for runoff.

In the open CD 34 race, Republican Adela Garza leading the field of three. Filemon Vela leads in Democratic Primary. This one could go to a runoff, however. A total of 11 candidates are vying for that seat.

In HD-97 in Tarrant County, state Rep. Mark Shelton is running for higher office and three Republicans are vying to replace him. Craig Goldman is leading the early vote against Susan Todd and Chris Hatch.

Tarrant County got a new Democratic-leaning House district this year, HD-101, due to population growth. In the three way race, former state Rep. Chris Turner is leading former state Rep. Paula Pierson and Vickie Barnett, according to early vote results.

Early voting in the Tarrant County race to replace state Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, who opted to run for higher office, shows Jonathan Stickland leading Bedford City Council member Roger Fisher. Fisher was endorsed by Smith.

The decision by state Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, to run for higher office sparked a four-way Republican primary to represent his House district. The results from early voting show a runoff appears likely with North Richland Hills City Council member Ken Sapp and former Tarrant County Republican Chair Stephanie Klick. Sapp is leading by 11 percentage points in the early vote.

Early voting results indicate former El Paso City Council member Beto O’Rourke leading in his match up with entrenched incumbent Silvestre Reyes. O’Rourke with about 51 percent to Reyes’ 43 percent. A field of five could mean a runoff, however.

Republican primary early voters in Harris County were heavily courted by both Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, both of whom have Houston roots. In the early vote, Dewhurst leads with 52 percent followed by Cruz at 38 percent.

Calling two Republican primaries in Tarrant County. State Rep. Diane Patrick of Arlington has won her primary against Trina Lanza. State Rep. Mark Shelton of Fort Worth has won his bid against Derek Cooper to challenge state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, in November.

Blake Farenthold gets the Republican nomination for another term in Congress. Now he waits to find out who the Democrats will send in. He's at 81 percent with early votes from the big counties in. On the Democratic side, Jerry Trevino is ahead but hasn't broken 50 percent.

Straus issues statement hailing his strong victory: The voters of District 121 refused to let their seat be bought by outside interests who poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into distortions that they knew weren’t true. And I want all my colleagues in the Texas House to know: We can abide by Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment andwin through the power of positive ideas."

Gov Perry, appearing on Fox, says it's appropriate that the "best economy in the country would be the one to nominate" Romney, who "is going to carry our message about job creation in this country." He was speaking from Georgetown TX.

With early returns and 1% of precincts reporting in SD 30, incumbent state Sen. Craig Estes is beating opponent Jim Herblin, 65% to 35%. With only 2% of precincts reporting in Collin/Rockwall counties in HD-33, former NFL player Scott Turner beating former Judge and attorney Jim Pruitt, 60% to 39%. (Turner is winning big in Collin County, but he's slightly trailing in Pruitt's home county of Rockwall.)

Rep. Chuck Hopson and challenger, Travis Clardy are tied at 47 percent with all of the early votes counted for HD-11. Clardy leads by 66 votes. The third candidate, Tony Sevilla, is far behind, but could cause a run-off between the other two challengers.

Sylvia Romo, who just conceded to Lloyd Doggett in CD-35, told the Tribune that she was disappointed about the lack of participation in the election, but she does not have any regrets about her campaign. She said that as a longtime Democrat, she will support Doggett in the general. As for races in her future, she said she's going to "keep the door open."

More early voting returns from Collin and Denton counties (where 0 to 2 percent of precincts have reported): In HD-64 state Rep. Myra Crownover is thumping Tea Party opponent Mike Brucia, 71 percent to 28 percent. In HD-65, Ron Simmons is beating Dave Loerwald and Mike Hennefer, with 62 percent of the early vote. If those numbers hold, Simmons may avoid a run-off. In HD-67, Jon Cole and Jeff Leach are heading toward a runoff, with Roger Burns trailing by a few hundred votes. The race to succeed Ken Paxton in HD-70 shows Scott Sanford is leading Bracy Wilson, 60 percent to 39 percent. HD-106 Republican candidate Pat Fallon is leading former school board member Amber Fulton, 75 percent to 24 percent.

Educator Grady Yarbrough of San Antonio is currently running second in the four-way Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, with 21 percent of precincts reporting. Reached by phone, Yarbrough said he had not been following the results but is not surprised he is running ahead of Addie Allen and Sean Hubbard and only behind former state Rep. Paul Sadler.“I felt that it would be a runoff and yes, I have a plan for the runoff,” Yarbrough said. “It’s turning out the way I thought it would.”Unlike his three competitors in the primary, Yarbrough has not reported raising or spending any money with the Federal Elections Commission. Yarbrough said he just hasn’t filed any reports yet but did spend money around the state promoting his campaign. Yarbrough said he advertised in African-American newspapers and had yard signs up in several parts of the state.“I spent money, you bet I have,” Yarbrough said.

Possibility of two more run-off elections in Dallas area state races. We're still waiting for district precincts to report, but early returns indicate HD 114 House GOP candidate (and former state lawmaker) Bill Keffer is leading Jason Villalba, 47 percent to 40 percent. The remaining 12 percent of votes have gone to David Boone. In HD 115, optometrist Steve Nguyen (who has raised the most money so far) has garnered 35% of the vote; school board member and civil engineer Bennett Ratliff has accumulated 30%; Matt Rinaldi trails at 26 percent.

In HD6 state Rep. Leo Berman has lost to challenger Matt Schaefer, a Tyler lawyer. Berman, who is battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma, had said that he was retiring after the last legislative session but decided to run again after meeting Schaefer, whom he described as arrogant. Berman was going through chemotherapy during the campaign.

With a quarter of precincts reporting, Barry Smitherman and Christi Craddick pulling ahead in their respective Railroad Commission (Republican) races. Neither's particularly close to the magic 50% number, though, to avoid a runoff.

We're down to two undecided races for Texas Senate, with the Central Texas contest — Jeff Wentworth vs. Elizabeth Ames Jones and Donna Campbell — headed to a runoff and the second looking an awful lot like a victory (though we haven't yet called it) for Kelly Hancock over Todd Smith.

Rep. Chuck Hopson may be rising above the criticism that he's not conservative enough. With 42 percent of precincts reporting, Hopson has regained the lead over his challenger, Travis Clardy, and currently has 49.9 percent. But the votes from Nacogdoches county, Clardy's hometown, aren't all in yet, and could be trouble for the incumbent.

We're calling HD-110 for mental health worker Toni Rose, who has 63 percent of the vote in the Dallas County district. The seat was vacated by Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, who lost her bid against U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson tonight.

The Club for Growth is celebrating that the Republican race to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has gone to a runoff, according to some news outlets including the Associated Press.The group has made waves in recent weeks by spending heavily to influence GOP primaries in other states. The group has invested over $2.5 million over the last year in Texas, nearly all of it opposing Dewhurst."Despite millions of dollars of desperate and negative attacks, David Dewhurst must now face true conservative Ted Cruz one-on-one…and that’s David Dewhurst’s worst nightmare," Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said. "Ted Cruz is a champion of economic freedom and the Club for Growth PAC strongly supports his candidacy.”

With all of the precincts in Rusk and Cherokee counties reporting, Hopson leads by 52 percent. We're still waiting on 16 precincts in Nacogdoches county, which could send the race to a runoff between Hopson and Clardy.

We’re calling HD-3 for Cecil Bell Jr., president of Magnolia ISD Board of Trustees, who leads with nearly 60 percent of the vote. Bob Bagley, the Tea Party affiliated candidate follows Bell with 26 percent. Troy Bonin, a family man and dentist, has 14 percent.

We're calling HD 33 for former NFL player-turned-businessman Scott Turner, who's beating attorney Jim Pruitt handily in Collin County, with 79 percent of precincts reporting. Pruitt beat Turner in Rockwall County, but by less than a three-point margin.

Rep. David Simpson has held his seat against Tommy Merritt — despite the mug-slinging mailer sent out by Tommy Merritt’s campaign accusing Simpson of exposing Americans to terrorism. With all precincts reporting, Simpson won by 3,874 votes over Merritt.

We're calling HD 106 for Pat Fallon. With 51 percent of precincts reporting in Denton County, Fallon leads opponent Amber Fulton with 72 percent. There is no Democrat running in this race, so he is guaranteed a spot in the Legislature next January.

Governor Perry has released a statement doubling down on Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who looks headed for a runoff: "Now, more than ever, we must work to send a proven conservative leader like David Dewhurst to Washington."

We're calling HD 70 for Scott Sanford, the accountant and executive pastor at Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen, TX. With 79 percent of precincts reporting, he is beating fellow Republican Bracy Wilson, 60 percent to 39 percent. Since there is no Democrat in the field, Sanford is heading to the Texas Legislature. Sanford attended Baylor University with the man he is replacing in the House, Ken Paxton.

With 21% of the votes in, U.S. Rep. John Culberson has pulled in 88% of the vote and looks to be moving on to the general election as the GOP candidate in CD-7. We're calling it. On the Democratic side, Lissa Squiers is head of Jim Cargas by only 146 votes.

With 53% of the vote in, we're saying that Christi Craddick will face a runoff in the Railroad Commission race. She's currently ahead with 36% of the vote; State Rep Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, is second at 27% & should be her runoff opponent.

In the second RRC race, Barry Smitherman is well ahead at 43%; still a bit early to say definitively whether he'll have a runoff or not.

With 70 percent of precincts reporting in HD 67, it appears the top two Republican candidates, Jon Cole and Jeff Leach, will face off in a runoff election. So far, Cole is taking 32 percent of the vote; Leach has 31 percent.

Updates in several state House races in Tarrant County. State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, has defeated Carlos Vasquez in the HD-90 Democratic primary. In HD-95, Craig Goldman defeated Susan Todd and Chris Hatch. In HD-92, Jonathan Stickland beat Roger Fisher. The Democratic primary in HD-95 to replace state Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, appears likely to be headed to a runoff between Nicole Collier and Jesse Gaines.

Leading in the Williamson County DA race, Jana Duty says the election results that are going against John Bradley show that voters there want prosecutors to be tough on crime but fair. "It's very important to people that we have both," she said. The latest results from the county show Duty is up with 54 percent of the vote to Bradley's 46 percent. The campaign focused largely on Bradley's role in the wrongful conviction case of Michael Morton. For more than five years, Bradley opposed DNA testing that ultimately exonerated Morton after he spent nearly 25 years in prison for his wife's murder. The DNA also led to the capture of Mark Norwood, who is now awaiting trial for the 1986 murder of Christine Morton.

We're calling HD 65 for Ron Simmons of Lewisville. The Republican candidate won 61 percent of the vote, easily overtaking opponents Dave Loerwald and Michael Hennefer. With more money than the other candidates, the financial consultant was able to flood the district with mailers and posters to increase his name recognition. Simmons will face Democrat Gary Brown in the fall. The seat is being vacated by state Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton.

HD 40: Looks like a runoff between attorneysTerry Canales and Agustin Hernandez, Jr.. With 90 percent of the precincts reporting, Canales has 32 percent of the vote total compared to Hernandez’s 25.46 percent. Robert Peña in third place with 23.34 percent.

With 100 percent of Williamson County precincts reporting, district attorney John Bradley has lost a contentious bid to keep his job after opposing DNA testing in the Michael Morton case for more than five years. Bradley — who Gov. Rick Perry had endorsed — lost to Williamson County Attorney Jana Duty, who raked in 55 percent of the vote, compared to Bradley's 45 percent.

State Rep. Barbara Nash, R-Arlington, will not be returning to the Texas House next year. In a three-way Republican primary for HD-93, lawyer Matt Krause nabbed 50.7 percent of the vote, defeating Nash and former Texas Eagle Forum President Pat Carlson.

In a photo-finish, Kesha Rogers, who has run on a platform of impeaching President Obama and has been disavowed by the Texas Democratic Party, appears to have edged out K.P. George by fewer than 100 votes in CD-22. Look for his campaign to ask for a recount. If the result stands, this is her second consecutive victory in the district's Democratic primary.

In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, former state Rep. Paul Sadler will be in a runoff with educator Grady Yarbrough. Sean Hubbard, who many had expected to end up in the runoff with Sadler, came in last behind Addie Allen.

CD 16: After serving the people of El Paso since 1996U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyeslooks to have lost to challengerBeto O’Rourke. O’Rourke narrowly avoided a runoff, garnering 50.47 percent of the votes to Reyes’ 44.35 percent.

The Campaign for Primary Accountability, a super PAC that aimed to unseat lawmakers they believed were ineffective incumbents, released a statement on its mixed success in Texas congressional races. Spokesman Curtis Ellis lauded the group's role in defeating U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, who "had all the benefits of incumbency.. The voters exercised their franchise and chose Beto O’Rourke."In CD-4, incumbent U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall won — with 58 percent of the vote. Ellis said he was "the only incumbent to earn less than 60 percent of the vote" — calling that a relative victory.

Donna Campbell, who made it into a runoff with state Sen. Jeff Wentworth for the San Antonio seat, released the following statement: "Our campaign was outnumbered, outspent, and doubted by many in the media -- but what we lacked in conventional campaign structure we made up for in faith, determination, and a conservative message of smaller government and fiscal responsibility. This victory may have shocked some pundits, especially our win in Travis County outright, but to our grassroots supporters, tea party members, and Texas families, the outcome was no surprise."

With 100 percent of precincts reporting in HD 114 and HD 115 in Dallas County, we can report both races will have runoff elections in July. The two Republican attorneys advancing in HD 114 are former state lawmaker Bill Keffer and Jason Villalba. Keffer received 47 percent of the vote in today's election, compared to 41 percent for Villalba. In the Republican primary for HD 115, Vietnamese American optometrist Steve Nguyen will face Bennett Ratliff, a civil engineer and longtime member of the Coppell School Board. Nguyen won 35 percent of the vote; Ratliff received 30 percent.

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